It was fourth down at the Tampa Bay 1-yard line for the Dallas Cowboys in the second quarter at Raymond James Stadium on Monday night.
Troy Aikman on the ESPN broadcast said he thought he would take the three.
Mike McCarthy wasn’t listening and the coach’s intuition paid off.
Dak Prescott faked handing off the ball to Ezekiel Elliott and quickly rolled left where there wasn’t a Tampa Bay Buccaneer defensive player in sight.
The short run gave the Cowboys a 12-0 lead and completed a 15-play drive after a Jayron Kearse interception of Tom Brady in the end zone.
.@Dak on the bootleg! #DallasCowboys
📺: #DALvsTB on ESPN/ABC
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/HABicMhZeY pic.twitter.com/1MhjIhCOjf— NFL (@NFL) January 17, 2023
The PAT was missed for the second time and Dallas led 12-0.
The Cowboys were starting to make Tampa Bay look like the team that finished below .500 in winning the NFC South.